Furnace for the combustion of natural gas



(No Model.)

-W. RIPPEY.

I FURNACE FOR THE' COMBUSTION OF NATURAL GAS. No. 337,868.

Patented Mar. 16, 1886.

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Ihsrrnn STATES PATENT @rrica \VILLIAM RIPPEY, OF ALLEGHENY CITY,PENNSYLVANIA.

FURNACE FOR THE COMBUSTION OF NATURAL GAS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 337,868, dated March16,1886.

Application filed June 19, 1885. Serial No. 168,445.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, \VILLIAM RIPPEY, of Allegheny City, in the county ofAllegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Furnaces for the Combustion of Natural Gas; and I dohereby declare the following to be aful], clear, and exact descriptionthereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming apart of this specification, in which Figurel is a vertical longitudinalsection of my improved furnace on the line 00 00 of Fig. 2, which is afront view of the same.

Likeletters of reference indicate like parts.

The purpose of my invention is to improve the construction of puddlingand heating furnaces and to increase their efficiency of operation.

My invention consists in the combination and arrangement of a gas andair mixing chamber and a combustion chamber, as is hereinafterdescribed.

The fuel used in the furnace is gaspreferably natural gas-which isintroduced into the combustion chamber a through a pipe, I), whichtraverses the wall of the chamber, and at its end is provided with theordinary perforated T-burner. The lower part of the combustion-chamberis made of contracted diameter, but little wider than sufficient toaccommodate the burner, and the latter is situate a little above thebottom of the chamber. The air-flue has its adit into the contractedpart of the combustionchamber at a point, 0, below the level of thegas-burner. Except for this flue, the combustionchamber is preferablyclosed from communication with the surrounding air.

Somewhat above thelevel of the gas-burner the contractedcombustion-chainber begins to widen by a gradual flaring of its wallstoward the fire-bridge in one direction, and toward the front wall ofthe furnace in the opposite direction. Considering thelimits of thecombustion-chamber to lie between the groundlevel underneath the pipe I)and the level of the bridge-wall, it consists of two partsthe contractedportion a, into which the air-flue c and burner I) enter, and which Iwill call the neck or mixing-chamber, and the upper expanded part, a,which is the throat or combustionchamber proper.

(No model.)

contracted throat of the comhustionchamber,

guided directly upon the gas in a vigorous draft, which causes the ai rand gas to come into intimate contact, and to be thoroughly mixed at thetime when they teach the base of the throat a. At this point the mingledgases suddenly begin to expand and fill the entire throat with somewhatrarefied burning fuel. This expansion and rarefication mix the gaseseven more thoroughly than before, and retard their passage sufficientlyto cause complete combustion in the throat of the chamber and in thefurnace-hearth before they reach the stack. This. quality is materiallyaided by the fact that the throat flares by a straight and gradualtaper, as distinguished from an expansion made by the addition of arectangular chamber of greater width than the mixingchamber, becausethere are no spaces unexposed to draft in which eddies of air and gasmight form to hinder the draft and prevent thorough mixture.

The distinctive advantages of the foregoing elements of my inventionconsist in the perfect combustion of the gas.

The principal objection to the use of natural gas in puddling andheating furnaces is, that its high pressure and other causes prevent theconsumption of the whole amount of the fuel in the body of the furnace.A great quantity of it reaches the stack unconsumed, and burns there, tothe injury of the masonry and without any good effect on themetallurgical operations of the furnace. So imperfect is the combustionin the ordinary furnace that the heat of the paddling-chamber decomposesthe elements of the natural gas, and a deposit of incombustible graphiteof considerable density and hardness is formed on the bridge-wall.

Besides the loss of fuel which this entails, there must be some heatlost in the formation of this deposit, both of which operate to the hurtof the furnace. I have found that all these objections are obviated byuse of my improvement. It will be noticed that the combustion chamberextends considerably farther below the level of the working-chamber thanusual in prior furnaces, by which construction more space is given foradmixture of the gases.

:2 azs As incidents to the furnace hereinbefore described, my inventionfurther consists in a novel arrangement of the air-flue, whereby the airis somewhat heated before it reaches the neck of the combustion-chamber,and in an arrangement of the inner wall of the furnace for economizingheat and making its supply more regular.

A part of the front wall of the furnace is made double, with a verticalspace, 0, between the inner Wall, d, and the outer wall, 6, thus formed.This space is coextensive with the mixing-chamber a, and preferablyreaches a little above it, being separated therefrom only by the thininner Wall, d. The outer wall is perforated bya flue or port, 7', whichenters the flue c at a point near its top, and the airport 0, whichenters the combnstion-chainher, traverses only the inner wall, d, at ornear the bottom of the vertical flue-space. Theair of thecombustion-chamber is by these means obliged to enter the flue f, and intraversing the flue c and the port 0 becomes considerably flow of thegas.

\Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

1. In a furnace for combustion of gas, the combination of a combustionchamber consisting of a contracted mixing-chamber or neck and anexpanded throat tapering in straight lines both from the bridge-wall andfrom the front wall of the furnace directly above the mixing-chamber orneck and communicating therewith, a gas pipe or flue entering thecontracted mixing-chamber or neck below the expanded throat, and anair-port entering the mixing-chamber below the gas pipe or flue,substantially as and for the purposes specified.

2. In a furnace for combustion of gas, the combination of acombustion-chamber consisting of a contract-ed mixing-chamber or neckand an expanded throat above the mixing chamber or neck andcommunicating therewith, a gas pipe or flue entering the contractedmixing-chamber or neck below the expanded throat, an air-port enteringthe mixing-chamber below the gas-pipe or gas-flue, and a erticalair-flue made in the front wall of the furnace adjacent to thecombustionchamber and discharging 'thereinto through i the saidair-port, substantially as and for the purposes described. 7

.In testimony-whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 11th day of June,A. D. 1885.

WILLIAM Rjl PPEY.

Witnesses:

W. B. CoRWIN, THOMAS W. BAKEWELL.

